Today, Canon USA, the American division of the global camera giant, announced it will launch an Ethereum-based NFT marketplace focused on photography. The ‘Cadabra’ marketplace, which is expected to launch later this year, marks Canon’s biggest move in Web3 to date.
Cadabra was previewed at this week’s NFT.NYC conference. It will feature photos in a myriad of categories, including sports, landscapes, lifestyle, wildlife, and more. Cadabra will include tokenized photograph drops from photographers and a secondary marketplace for reselling the NFTs.
Besides digital images, Cadabra will allow participating photographers to issue physical prints of their images that will be fulfilled by Canon. The launch opens in the U.S and lets customers purchase NFTs via cryptocurrency payments or credit/debit card.
This isn’t Canon’s first foray into NFTs. In July 2022, Canon collaborated with Immutable Image to drop an NFT photo series on Solana. The series featured photos from world-renowned photographers including Joyce Tenneson, Barbara Bordnick, Sam Abell, and others.
Other NFT platforms dedicated to photography include Sloika and Quantum Art. Recently, Justin Aversano’s NFT-based photography project “Twin Flames” has been inspiring the space after it did millions of dollars in sales and has been featured at Christie’s auction house and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Still, photography remains a relatively niche market in the NFT space.
Canon is based in Tokyo and produces professional cameras, printers, scanners, camcorders, and even medical equipment. Now it appears the company is bullish on Web3 and non-fungible tokens.
NFT Marketplaces Open Across Various Sectors
Canon’s announcement of its upcoming NFT marketplaces is big news, especially for photographers who are interested in Web3. But Canon is far from the only company opening an NFT marketplace. At Rarity Sniper, we’ve seen several new NFT marketplaces launched in recent months. Here are the top stories.
First, last month, news leaked that Amazon could be launching its own NFT marketplace as early as April 24, 2023. The marketplace will tie NFTs to physical products that are delivered to customer’s doorsteps. Once the marketplace goes live, Amazon will notify every U.S. Amazon Prime customer about the initiative.
Next, two months ago, WISEKEY, a leading blockchain, security, AI, and loT (“internet of things”) company announced it was launching eTreeNFT.com. The new NFT marketplace creates sustainable asset-based markets for sequestering carbon dioxide. It does so by tying IRL trees to tokens that can track trees and promote their growth and wellbeing.
Finally, four months ago, a top crypto exchange, Kraken, launched its new NFT marketplace to trade and discover non-fungible tokens. The marketplace boasts zero gas fees, trusted rarity rankings, creator earnings, and 200+ funding options.
There was a time when people thought the world would only need one NFT marketplace. But those times are long gone. Companies like Canon (and others) are showing that NFT marketplaces can be focused on a specific theme or genre — like photography. At Rarity Sniper, we’re excited about Cadabra’s upcoming launch and will be following up on any related news.
For more information about NFT marketplaces, check out our recent in-depth article:
• The Top 10 NFT Marketplaces
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